The present invention relates to catch basins that are typically implanted in the ground for collecting solids-containing rain, surface water or effluent and which are further connected to below-ground sewer piping systems which carry the effluent away from the catch basin to some central sewage processing system.
Catch basins are usually constructed of concrete or concrete block, are rectangular in cross section and have an open top adapted to receive a metal inlet grate.
The catch basin and associated inlet and discharge piping are usually adequate in size and design to accept and carry away water runoff containing solids without overflowing. However, when the piping system or catch basin discharge is filled with solids, it overflows causing a health hazard and stops functioning.
The design of a conventional catch basin does not include any means to clarify the solids-containing water runoff or effluent. Consequently, a disadvantage of these catch basins is that the contained dirt, leaves, paper, plastics, and various other solids, are swept into the catch basin and then are carried through the outlet into the sewer piping system. Eventually, these lines and catch basins plug and have to be cleaned out. When plugged, the surface area or street around the inlet grating is flooded causing a health hazard due to the contained materials and polluted liquid.
Another disadvantage is that there is no positive means of preventing sewer gases from escaping from the sewer system and out of the catch basin into the atmosphere. These gases can be poisonous and at minimum have a foul odor.
These disadvantages were vividly described in an editorial in the Nov. 27, 1987 issue of the New York Times which stated that during August, 1987 a 50-mile slick carrying used hospital syringes, bags of household trash and thousands of empty dope (crack) bottles were washed on to the New Jersey shore. The source was later proven to be New York City. Another major pollutant, besides illegal dumping, is the trash left on city streets. In many cities, sewers and storm drains are combined, allowing storm runoff to bypass treatment plants in times of high flow. Thus, during almost every storm the water sweeps uncollected city trash through the sewer system out to sea or to some other body of water to cause problems at some other point of the shoreline.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,664,853 issued Aug. 3, 1928, the inventor describes a device for use in conjunction with street inlets associated with catch basins. A cylindrical sieve container is included in the catch basin to collect the solids contained in surface runoff. The disadvantage of that system is that such a container does not prevent all of the solid material from flowing into the sewer system. Material smaller in size than the container openings will flow through and into the sewer piping. Another disadvantage is that the container will eventually corrode. Another disadvantage is that the container must be removed to empty it--a difficult job at best.
An advantage of the catch basin of the present invention is that it includes separating baffles arranged so that solid material contained in the water runoff is retained, for later manual removal, in the catch basin. Another advantage is that because of the relative positions of the inlet and outlet of the catch basin and the separating baffles a liquid seal is maintained in the catch basin and sewer gases cannot flow backward out of the sewer piping through the catch basin and to the atmosphere. Another advantage is that the catch basin of the present invention may be used by itself or in conjunction with existing catch basins and sewer systems. It can also be used in municipalities at the curb or in open areas or along highways as well as in the industrial environment.